Amazing Armadillidiidae

Roly Poly Bugs!

I've been giving chronologies for a a couple of weeks now on the build-out that's happening at my office. It's been quite the production on all scales; walls have been constructed, desks have been moved, dust has blanketed everything, and all kinds of little crawly critters have

their way into the office.

I spotted one of these little ones scuttling across the floor today and I stopped to carry it back outside. Of course I've seen these a thousand times over, but never really looked into them - what they are or why or how they roll up when they're threatened. I immediately called it a Roly Poly Bug, but wondered aloud if that's what they were really called. Everyone in my office also calls them that.

I'm a person easily intrigued, so naturally I made a note to research this once I got home.
I'm home.
Here's what I found:

armadillidiidae, aka roly polies, aka pill bugs, aka woodlice.
photog | drew mackie

A lot of people have speculated on these things for a long time. I'm new to the party.

Guess I'll start with facts I found*: 

rollers vs. hikers
photog | calev

1. Roly polies, also commonly known as pill bugs, are not actually bugs [insects]. They are terrestrial crustaceans more closely related to lobsters and crabs than insects. 

2. They came from Europe, originally. The alias Roly Poly was originally a European coining. Erego, we are being quite the accidentally cultured folk when we call them that ;). Hehe. 

3. They don't bite - not people at least. They're harmless to humans and animals but play a very substantial role in the biological decomp process of dead plants & wood, earning their other alias, Woodlice, which I don't prefer due to the stigma associated with the word lice. Be nice, they're not gonna eat you :). 

4. They grow by a 2-part molting process. Rolies have an exoskeleton, so during molting, they crawl out of the back half of the exoskeleton first, then the front half. Imagine if we grew that way? Whoa. 

5. Not all roly polies actually roll when threatened. Some choose to run instead of roll, separating them into the category of hikers. There are rolling pill bugs and hiking pill bugs. Hrmm...

* I consulted quite a few sources for this info: 
- Case study via Harvard University, developed by Harry Dilner of Christiana HS, Delaware
- Wikipedia
- Drew Mackie, New Zealand [fellow blogbot!]
- Macro credit: Calev Photography

smile :) | photog: calev

So anyway, thanks for the prompting, little guy [or girl]. < Oh, and on that gender thing, apparently pill bugs can be determined male or female by their bellies: females are pale underneath, males are dark. On this particular occasion today, I really didn't think to check. Not important anyway. I named the little thing Axel, and Axel went outside into the grass. My apologies, if I'd mis-gendered you, little pill bug. :) 

See? It's basic info, practical and easily-available knowledge, but not commonly known, nonetheless. :) Yay, for research!

xo | cmd

Team Italy: Relay For Life [Update]!

Hey friends!

Ohhh yeah, Towerview! We are well on our way to kickin' butt and takin' names on the road to raising money to fight cancer. Tonight was the monthly team meeting for our upcoming relay here in Belleville; I along with Jimmy and Mo were there for the next step in the process, which was choosing our "campsite" for the event.

Well let me back up. Before we got down to picking our site, we went over all the current standings, teams, etc. Between the last meeting and now, there are 6 or 7 brand new teams [wooo!]. Towerview is still holding down the #1 spot on the fundraising chart; while I understand this is not that type of competition, I am so very proud at the collective effort our team so often and clearly exerts for noteworthy causes like this!!

keep it up towerview!! 

We still have quite a ways to go, and our next stop on the agenda is to nail down some decorating ideas [our team is Italy], and develop some on-site fundraising ideas. We are on our way!! :)

that's us! site #11.. watch out now ;)

Remember: July 20 & 21 is the event!! If you need details, please don't hesitate to find either myself or Lara. We've got plenty of info and ways you can get involved if you haven't yet and would like to. :) [||end PSA. Ha.]

*Dawne was absolutely amazing tonight in that she asked to keep Sydni overnight. I'm not quite sure what exactly it is about this week, but I've not yet managed to get past 4 hours of sleeping yet. It's only Tuesday though, so maybe I'll catch up tomorrow. The extra 30 minutes in the morning will definitely be a nice buffer, though.

Time to try my hand at this sleeping thing.

xo | cmd

Oy. Monday.

I'm feeling much better today.
 -- Physically, that is. The day itself was a bit more of an actual struggle. I found this little guy [actually, it was passed along to me by Courtney this afternoon] that summarizes the bulk of my day in one little slap:

monday can be a meanie....

Chaa - ha! That's a true story, folks. 

I'm so pleased that the excruciating throbbing of that sinus headache - or whatever it was - that plagued my weekend has subsided. I was almost nervous waking up this morning that this would be day 3 in a row of feeling like my heart had been transplanted directly between my brain and my eyeballs. Hooooray! 

Towerview softball was canceled tonight; the opposing team had their version of VBS this week, so no go on the game. Just as well I suppose since it's still a little soggy out there. It was damp last week, too, so hopefully next week we'll have both a game and well, a dry game. Yeah? 

Oy. It's only Monday. Deep breaths :) 

Let's try this week thing again tomorrow. 

xo | cmd

The Cunicos Join the Tower!

I felt like I navigated the bulk of today from inside a pressurized bubble. This whole sinus thing isn't one of those annual things for me, not by a long shot, so I'm not well-seasoned in preparation or coping with this. I knew I was in for a long day yesterday when even the Neti provided very little relief from this cloud of ick that seems to have certainly settled in for the weekend.

The GOOD news - I made it to church this morning! Well, that's not the good news [albeit it is definitely a start!] - The BEST news of the morning: Mike & Marlene became official members of the Towerview family!!

mike & marlene! [hack mode xxo -facebook ;) ]
welcome to the towerview family!! ♥  

*I can't say that the majority of the morning really stuck with me the first go-round [I dedicated myself to copious note-taking during the service; I earnestly value our pastor's messages, but my sinuses had other plans], but I have every intention on enjoying it again via notes. Oh well, though; I am so excited for the Cunicos to be a part of the Towerview family now!

With all the excitement of the morning service under our belts, it was enough to exhaust both Sydni and me [she's still not 100%, either], so we found ourselves straight home for a light lunch and a very contrasting and heavy nap. That brings us to now, during which time Sydni is propped up in a tshirt and pj pants with her blankie & stuffed animal watching The Little Mermaid, and I'm here, blogging away next to her as I hum along with Ariel in her cavern o' human treasures.

It's gonna be an early night.... Haha.

Dear Sinuses,
Please knock.it.off.soon.Thanks-a-million.
Love, Me.

xo | cmd

Sucker Sinuses [but a] Better Backyard!

Ugggggghhhhkkkkk....

Remember that sinus thing that I'd been hoping wouldn't materialize into anything? Yeah... welllllll... Yeah.

I spent the entire morning asleep.
For what it's worth, so did Sydni. She'd been developing a runny nose and glossy eyes over the latter part of last week I thought I could slip under the radar of whatever bug she had, but that's never the case and certainly isn't this time, either.

I'm definitely sick. Booo, hiss hiss. I was thankful in a slightly disdainful way that Sydni hasn't fully recovered yet; her mild case of the lazies today proved a reprieve to me in my state of complete and utter lethargy.

Sydni was sprawled out on her bed watching Little Mermaid, and I was equally resigned to the couch nursing a sinus migraine when Mo materialized at the front door. She came bearing broccoli cheddar soup from Panera St. Louis Bread Company [I keep forgetting] for me, mac n' cheese for Sydni, and some other soup for herself. Thank you, a million times over for being so thoughtful, Mo!! We ate, and I decided we would finally get out for some gelato. We made a quick trip there, enjoyed some, and headed straight back to the house.

So um, yeah. That was pretty much the bulk of today, in a nutshell. OH! I figured I'd share this with the class, since I haven't yet:

before.
view from the yard | view from the staircase

after.
not quite finished.... yet :)

Here's the before and after of what I did a couple days earlier. This menagerie that was the back patio, out of control as it was, was the direct result of us working full days, not being out there nearly as often as we would've liked, and investing what little free time we both have into hanging out and getting out with Sydni. It didn't take long for this to get unruly, but I finally decided enough was enough, so yeah. That's what happened. 


Anyway, I'm still feeling a lot like what I envision..... death feels like... lol.
It... is... bed...time... for us. 


xo | cmd

Follow the RULES!

Here's a little something that I noticed today that I've seen something like a hundred+ times before, but just now actually stopped to read today on lunch. This is a park at which I find myself almost every single day on lunch, but I'm always parked at a different spot. Today, I happened to stop right under a shady spot next to the sign displaying the park rules.

Here's what I saw:

rules! haha. 

Seems like a pretty standard set of rules to me, I think, but read #6.

This is a public service announcement to everyone that not only are weapons and fireworks prohibited from this park, but so are missiles.

DANG IT! haha.

Sad day for all of us missile-lovers. Not at this park, kiddos. Bummer. Hah.

Just thought I'd share. Hope it made you chuckle, even if it was a courtesy one.

* I'm starting to feel the onset of a cold.... or sinus infection.... or something to that effect. Crossing my fingers that this won't materialize into anything too severe. Oy.

xo | cmd

Dark Chocolate? YES PLEASE.

I have one thing to say about today:

THANK YOU, NANCY.

I was having one of those days that required chocolate, but not on a "sounds-kinda-good-but-I-could-go-without" scale. This was on one of those "If-I-don't-get-it-I'm-making-a-special-trip-and-you-had-better-stand-clear" things. Nancy came to a quick rescue with some of the most amazing dark chocolate I've ever had. Thank you thank you thaaaaank you Nancyyyyy. :)

omg. chocolate.
thank.you.nancy.

Highlight of my day, for sure.
Dark chocolate is my new best friend.
This kind, at least.
Yep, that's all, friends. We'll try this thing again tomorrow.

xo | cmd